SRM Exam 2 Review

Nominal / Conceptual Question

An abstract, theoretical description an individual assigns to a term or variable.

Operational Definition

A precise, concrete statement specifying exactly how an abstract concept or theoretical construct will be measured, observed, or manipulated within a research study.

Interchangeability of Indicators

The methodological principle stating that if several different indicators represent the same concept to some degree, they will all behave the same way the underlying concept would if it were directly observable.

Reliability

A measurement procedure yields consistent scores when the phenomenon being measured is not changing.

Validity

The state that exists when statements or conclusions about empirical reality are correct.

Generalizability

Exists when a conclusion holds true for the population, group, setting, or event that we say it does, given the conditions that we specify; it is the extent to which a study can inform us about persons, places, or events that were not directly studied.

Conceptualization

The process of specifying what we mean by a term. In deductive research, conceptualization helps translate portions of an abstract theory into testable hypotheses involving specific variables. In inductive research, conceptualization is an important part of the process used to make sense of related observations.

Open-Ended Question

A survey question to which the respondents reply in their own words, either by writing or by talking.

Closed-Ended (Fixed-Choice) Question

A survey question that provides preformatted response choices for the respondent to circle or check.

Single Indicator

Measures a theoretical construct using one specific observable variable

Multiple Indicator

Measures a single construct by combining two or more distinct observable items or questions

Contingency Questions

A survey question intended for only a specific subset of respondents, where the applicability and answering of the question depend directly on the answer given to a preceding question.

Matrix Questions

A format that arranges multiple related questions into a single table or grid, using rows for the items being evaluated and columns for a share set of predefined response options.

Likert scales

Used to measure people’s attitudes, opinions, or values by asking them to rate their level of agreement with a series of declarative statements.

Double-barreled question

A single survey question that actually asks two questions but allows only one answer.

Mutually Exclusive

When every case can be classified as having only one attribute (or value). Response options or category choices do not overlap, so a participant can select or fit into only one category at a time.

Exhaustive

Every case can be classified as having at least one attribute (or value) for the variable. A variable’s measurement or response options must include every possible observation, attribute, or response.

Ecological Fallacy

An error in reasoning in which conclusions about individual-level processes are drawn from group-level data.

Descriptive Statistics

Statistics used to describe the distribution of and relationship among variables.

Univariate analysis

The quantitative examination of a single variable in isolation to describe its distribution, central tendency, and spread without assessing relationships with other variables

Measures of central tendency

Descriptive summary statistics that identify the single, typical, or representative value marking the center point of a data distribution (mean, median, mode).

Mean

The arithmetic, or weighted, average computed by adding up all the value of all the causes and dividing the number of cases.

Median

The position average, or the point, that divides a distribution in half.

Mode

The most frequent value in a distribution.

Measures of dispersion or variation

Descriptive statistics that quantify the degree to which scores or data points in a dataset are spread out, scattered, or clustered around a central value

Range

The numerical difference between the highest and lowest values in a quantitative dataset

Standard deviation

The square root of the average squared deviation of each case from the mean.

Reverse Coding

The process of flipping the numerical values of survey or questionnaire items so that all items in a scale point in the same positive or negative direction

Precode

The process of developing and assigning a finalized set of data codes to expected response categories before data collection begins.

Egotistical Approach

Defines human actions as ultimately motivated by self-interest

Altruistic Approach

Defines actions as motivated by a genuine, unselfish desire to improve the welfare of others.

Daily Return Rate Graph

A data collection monitoring tool that plots the exact number or percentage of completed surveys received on each individual day of a fieldwork period

Cumulative return rate graph

A visual tracking tool that plots the running total percentage of surveys completed and returned by respondents over time

Follow-up mailings

Sent to individuals who did not respond to the initial survey, designed explicitly to increase response rates and reduce non-response bias

Thumbnail sketch

A brief, descriptive, and unstructured note written by an interviewer or field researcher immediately following an interaction with a respondent.

Probing

A follow-up technique or neutral prompt used by an interviewer to clarify, expand, or dig deeper when a participant gives an incomplete, vague, or superficial answer

Courtesy bias

The tendency of survey respondents to give overly positive, agreeable, or non-controversial answers to avoid offending or appearing rude to the researcher

Sucker bias

The deliberate deception of a researcher or interviewer by a respondent.

Social desirability bias

Participants answer questions in a way that aligns with social norms or makes them look favorable rather than stating their true opinions or behaviors.

Computer-Assisted Telephone Interviewing (CATI)

A structured, quantitative data collection method where a live telephone interviewer reads survey questions from a computer screen and inputs the respondent's answers directly into specialized survey software in real tim

Random digit dialing

The random dialing, by a machine, of numbers within designated phone prefixes, which creates a random sample for phone surveys.

Coding

The process of assigning concise labels, numbers, or symbols to data —such as survey responses, interview transcripts, or field notes—to categorize, simplify, and analyze them.

Possible code cleaning

The process of checking a data file to ensure that only the codes officially assigned to the answer choices of a particular variable appear in the dataset

Contingency cleaning

The process of checking data to ensure that only those respondents who were supposed to answer a specific contingency question did so

Pretest

The measurement of an outcome (dependent) variable before an experimental intervention or change in a presumed independent variable for some other reason.

Floaters

Survey respondents who provide an opinion on a topic in response to a closed-ended question that does not include a “Don’t know” option but who will choose “Don’t know” if it is available.

Fence-sitters

Survey respondents who see themselves as being neutral on an issue and choose a middle (neutral) response that is offered.

Conceptualize

Defining what a concept means in the study

Operationalize

Deciding how the concept will be measured within the study

Unit of analysis

The “who or what” that the researcher is studying